Bonne fete, Air France KLM.

Air France KLM on Thursday held a virtual event to celebrate 70 years of service between France and Canada.

It’s been a remarkable journey that began with a nearly 14-hour flight from Paris to Montreal in 1950, with stops in both Shannon, Ireland and Gander, Newfoundland. They’ve seen 60’s beehive hairdos, smoking sections, 747 jumbo jets and on to sleek, A 380 aircraft with personalized TV screens and more.

Catherine Guillemart-Dias, Vice President and General Manager, Canada, for Air France KLM, who took over the job in early August, said it’s been an adjustment.

“I want to thank all of our travel agents who have looked after our customers since early March,” she said. “Air France KLM took exceptional measures with our customers and also to facilitate the work of travel agents.”

Guillemart-Dias said more than 700 agents are looking after rebookings, refunds and credit vouchers for Air France KLM customers.

CEO Ben Smith thanked the Air France KLM teams for seven decades of service.

“Our history in Canada is a fantastic journey with great teams,” he said.

Air France KLM employs 140 people in several Canadian cities. In addition to flying to Montreal, the airline now flies to both Toronto and Vancouver.

Henri de Peyrelongue, EVP Commercial Sales, said he was sorry he couldn’t come to Canada to celebrate the occasion.

“Expectations have evolved in the last six months, trigger changes in how we deal with health and safety, the world around us, and how we behave,” Peyrelongue said. “Our core priority in the midst of this challenging crisis is the wellbeing of our customers and employees.

“We have worked hard to meet health and safety expectations by implementing the highest standards across every step of the travel chain,” he said. “We have also, in response to your legitimate requests for more flexibility during these uncertain times, adapted our sales policy to enable you, if you wish, to change your booking or obtain a refund or credit voucher.”

Pre-covid, 680,000 French visitors came to Canada every year and an astonishing 1.2 million Canadians visited France, officials said.

Air France KLM has been at the forefront of technological changes, including measures to reduce CO2 emissions, reduce noise, lower fuel consumption and other measures, such as on-board WiFi.

Christina Wendland, Air France KLM Station Manager in Toronto, said she spent three months in France when she first started at the company and helped map out routes for pilots using weather forecasts, wind forecasts and navigational maps. It would two or three hours to map out a flight; something computers now do in a few minutes.